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06 Maestro -> RE: Is it finally playable? (8/19/2009 6:25:36 PM)
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The CTD issues were corrected about 6 months ago-I have had no problems with that.
I play this game every couple of days, and have racked up some playing hours with it. Overall, the game is quite stable and fit to play. There are still some known bugs, especially in naval battles (which I think is scheduled for a fix in the next patch), but the way I use naval power I actually never ran into the minefield or battle problem. I usually play as the CP and just use the fleet on occasional raids-not looking for any big fight. The players that like to play the TE powers and like to toy with the English navy still have some important complaints (unless those were recently fixed).
The most negative aspect to the game for me are the redundant events/political action messages. Not that those are not needed, but there are sometimes three in a row that say the same thing in a different way. These can be turned off selectively, but then there is a chance to miss important info. I think the whole event/political action event system needs to be reworked and re-edited. This situation is far from a game breaker though-just an annoyance.
Another negative point is the statistics library. There are over 50 pages of info relating to each friendly power. A few of the pages are useful. The unit pages would be very useful if those included live links to the units on the map. Overall, the statistics pages give me the impression of an unfinished project. Again, this is far from a game breaker. However, it would be very nice to see that part of the game upgraded.
The ai, as usual, is not the best opponent. It can put up a decent fight, and even pull off an occasionally surprisingly smart move. Often it can't cope with real operational threats-like deciding to retreat in a timely fashion to avoid being surrounded. This weakness is compounded by playing one whole side. For instance, playing the CP and ganging up on Russia is just a little too easy. By playing a single nation this problem is somewhat alleviated, but then you have to watch your allies get into some big messes. Until recently (IIRC) there were problems with playing single player as a single nation. In my current AAR game I am playing the whole CP-it really makes it too easy in the diplomatic and military modes.
On the positive side there are many good points to the game. Manpower limitations, unit speed, general's attributes, R&D, unit types/abilities/limitations, economic factors, unit build time and costs are among the very well done aspects to the game. Terrain and weather seem to have some accurate effects on battles-so on planning too. Grand offensive planning and the changing trench techs/levels add to the realism also. The game seems to me to be a good model of WW1-this is why I (and others) stuck with it even when it was a chore to play due to technical problems. There are ample options to choose from for a playing style also.
The map is a little strange-angled to the north east-I think that is how the board game was and it was desired to match that. They have changed their minds about that and plan on a more normal map orientation in the "gold" release-which is a very long time off. It is not to big an issue on the western front, but unless you know European geography very well, finding your way w/o zooming out on the eastern front will not be easy. It is doable, however. I have a good knowledge of geography, but it took some time to get my bearings on the eastern front w/o having to zoom out-its just a matter of exposure-sort of.
Anyway, that's my take on the game. I hope you found it useful. To hesitate buying this game because of stability problems is not well founded-it is quite stable now and has been for some time. Although there are still some issues with the game, the plus's far outweigh the minus's.
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